[Question] Top 20 Games of the last 20 Years?

In honour of their 20th anniversary Edge magazine are looking for people to submit their contributions for top 20 games of the last 20 years. Specifically they're looking for the best games that meant the most to you over those 20 years, not necessarily the ones that would be best to play today (things move on, we get better at stuff).

This seemed like an interesting question to me and a friend at work: which 20 games would we throw into like a personal museum/gallery curated based on the impact they'd had on us and our favourites over 20 years of gaming. And then I thought it might be an interesting question to throw to all of GFF.

So, get your thinking caps on, start clicking on Wikipedia and post your top 20 games of the last 20 years. Also share a little about why each game makes it into your list if you feel so inclined.

Heck, if we get enough entries I might try and work out a GFF top 20 (let's not hold our breath on that one).

EDIT: So some rules we clarified in chat discussing this:
- As with Edge, nothing released before August 19th 1993
- We're not counting re-releases (unless you're naming the new version/remake as the game version you'd include, rather than just a way to include an earlier game)

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Only the last 20 years? Cuts out some proper classics on the Spectrum then, poor old Chuckie Egg...

Rather than post all 20 at once, I'll add as I think of things so in no particular order just yet:

Elite - BBC Micro and Acorn Archimedes - Too old technically but staying as an example of the good old days

Ok so I started playing this over 20 years ago but it was re-released on the Archimedes about 19 years ago so it counts. Elite wasn't a game I played, it was the game I played from the age of about 10 for a good three years. A space combat and trading game, it was, compared to modern offerings, pretty limited in scope. Hyperspace to a planet, close in on the space station, fight off some pirates, dock, sell your cargo, buy some stuff, repeat ad nauseum. Despite this however, it seemed incredibly vast in scope and given the other games around at the time, was pretty epic. If nothing else, Elite taught me about how markets work. You buy food cheap at an agricultural planet, sell it for more money at an industrial planet where you buy machinery, then fly to an agricultural planet and so forth. You could also mine asteroids for cargo, or attack cargo ships or do whatever really. The Archimedes version was a huge improvement in terms of AI with a lot more ships and with those ships behaving independently of your ship. You'd come across a pitched space battle, hang around and try not to get involved and eventually the cops would show up and break it up for example. Incredible game and years ahead of it's time really.

Transport Tycoon - PC

There have been many building shit sims, primarily your Sim Citys and Civilisations but I always preferred the Sid Meia Tycoon games, with Transport Tycoon being my all time favourite. Build railways and truck stops, connect towns and industries and end up with a massive, fuck off great transport network all over the planet, fucking over your rivals in the process. It was great in the way you had to consider the big picture, planning the movement of resources over the network, but also manage the minute details, building complex systems of signals and points to allow as many trains as possible to co-exist on a small number of tracks. Also it had an awesome smooth-jazz soundtrack.

Xcom UFO and Enemy Unknown - PC

Strategy rpg action from when the Japs had just about got their heads round plumbing sims, the first couple of Xcom games were brutally unforgiving strategy combat games with rpg overtones. Build your base, try to shoot down a ufo, send out the troops to take a look, try not to cry when they get massacred. We used to play this multi-player with four of us sitting round a pc, controlling a couple of soldiers each and I still have UFO installed on my laptop now. I maintain there have been no finer strategy rpgs released before or since.

Soul Blade - Playstation

Tekken was good but Soul Blade was better. With a smaller range of combos than Tekken, it was conceivable to learn all of them, for every character and I did. For my first year of university, I did little other than play Soul Blade. Nobody could beat me regularly, even after all my mates also played it all year. I was still playing Sophitia with the Sword Breaker and beating Siegfried with the Soul Edge. A mate caught me once playing practice mode against the AI on highest setting, just blocking combos for hours on end. I've never got so into a game before or since.

Chocks Away - Acorn Archimedes - Too old technically but staying as an example of the good old days

I doubt anyone else ever played this but it's a 3d bi-plane sim. Great fun on your own but fucking hilarious split-screen with a mate. It's a real shame the Archimedes never took off as a platform because they were technically lightyears ahead of equivalent PC's, especially when it came to chucking polygons about and the pitched dogfights above angry enemy airbases you could have in Chocks Away were like nothing else available at the time.

Killer Instinct - SNES

Yes, Street Fighter was technically better and has survived the test of time but I'll always have a soft spot for Killer Instinct. I just loved the flow of the game, how when you got into the zone the moves flowed from one into another and you could properly humiliate people when you set your mind to it. There's also no more satisfying feeling in gaming than beating someone with the 48 hit combo.

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2 - Xbox

I know they never finished it and it has incredible flaws but KOTOR2 is one of the only rpgs where you really can do what you want more or less and your actions actually do affect the world around you. Every jrpg ever makes you set characters into certain roles and things like Mass Effect pretend they give you choice but give you a choice of two things then the ending is basically determined by a single choice near the end anyway. In KOTOR 2 you can be an evil Sith Lord, frying rooms full of mooks in a single blast of lightning or a gun-slinging good guy, ignoring jedi powers in favour of being fucking handy with a couple of pistols or literally anything in between. More to the point, you can make all your buddies be the same thing if you want. This gives the game so much more replay value than any Final Fantasy game and I think the fact it doesn't have an ending actually helps this. Plus points being that it's Star Wars and the sound of a light saber swooshing around makes me feel like a five year old at Christmas, no matter how old I get.

Micro Machines V3 - Playstation

This game, a multi-tap, gallons of beer and kilos of weed is my weekend nights from the age of 17 to about 19. Every weekend, a horde of people at Dave's house, getting hammered, playing Micro Machines. No two races ever the same, no one person dominating, the level where you have to float across a pond on a lily pad never taking less than half an hour. Ultimate party game of the mid-90s.

Halo 2 - Xbox

Controversial choice and yes, the campaign is fucking atrocious but Halo 2 was the first console game I played a lot of online and will always have a special place in my heart as a result. Also, Halo 2 actually had objective games where people tried to get the objective. Assault games and capture the flag games didn't just turn into BR deathmatch every time like games of H3 and 4 always do. There were loads of different ways to win too. Setting the evening's objective as "Piss about in a Warthog as much as possible" resulted in winning more games in a row than ever trying to play properly. Custom games of King of the Hill on Midships with no shields and pistols as starting weapons with 16 people taking over three hours for someone to hit the 3 minute winning time, games of plasma grenade tag the length of blood gultch and so forth, Halo 2 was always more fun than the follow ups as there were a lot more people playing who didn't take it too seriously.

Ghost Recon 2 Summit Strike - Xbox

Not a standout game technically, I mainly love this game for the co-op games I used to play with a bunch of other English guys. Every session was a laugh, nobody took it too seriously, we'd often stop to give someone time to skin up a joint or grab a beer and without trying too hard, we actually got fucking good at it with only one ridiculous mission with randomly spawning badguys denying us a completion clean sweep on the highest difficulty setting. Of particular note was one night a random American joined in and tried to take it very seriously. Everyone got fucked off with him and by unspoken agreement, every game would start with someone shooting the guy in the leg with a pistol. Not fatal so he couldn't boot us but made him walk at half speed for the whole match. Despite this, the guy never quit and played with us for five hours straight. What a twat.

Syndicate - PC

Syndicate was an isometric strategy combat game that was a massive rip-off of Blade Runner and featured a team of cyborgs completing various combat-based missions in a futuristic city. More importantly it was, like most games made in the good old days before naughty kids were diagnosed as ADHD and medicated into insensibility rather than given an educational slap, incredibly fucking difficult. Starting off reasonably enough, you controlled your borgs and saved up cash afterwards to spend on newer, better guns and upgrades to your team improving their accuracy and reaction time. You could adjust these factors at will during the game leading to the hilarity of setting accuracy to zero and opening up on a massive crowd of civilians with miniguns. The game had a landmark bit of kit, the persuadatron, that allowed you to brainwash people into following you acting as human shields and allowing you to then brainwash cops and enemy agents. Best use of this was getting one agent to persuade every civilian on a busy level, getting everyone into a single car then having another agent blow it up, watching concentric rings of burning civilians running away from the wreckage. Never stopped being funny. There was an expansion pack, US revolt or something, the first level of which was a harder version of the last level of the original. Needless to say, I got about two levels in and gave up.

GTA Vice City - PS2

Aka best GTA, hands down. Funniest GTA, best range of different types of missions GTA, best taking over real estate GTA, best radio stations GTA, the list goes on. San Andreas is a close second but Vice City is definitely the best of an incredible series, at least until the 17th September...

Lylat Wars - N64

Called Star Fox 64 in the US but Lylat Wars in Europe (Because of a spectrum game called Star Fox), this was basically the only thing I ever used my N64 for. Like Tails, I played this and played this trying to work out how to get the alternate routes, back in the days when if you wanted to see everything in a game you had to get good at it, not just look it up on Gamefaqs. The script is hilarious, the levels are nicely balanced and the multiplayer is indeed awesome.

Time Crisis 2 - Arcade

Me and my mate Rich used to play this every Saturday when we were in town. We must have spent hundreds of quid on it and the bastard game is so tough towards the end, we got too good at the early stages before we managed to finish it, shooting at people before they actually appeared. Best use of an arcade cabinet and a shame it didn't translate too well to home consoles (Although Vampire Night on a projector with a G-Con is pretty mental).

Wipeout - Playstation

Wipeout should go down in history as the game that killed Sega and Nintendo. When the Playstation came out, it was fun enough playing Worms and Ridge Racer but it was just a fucking expensive re-hash of the Snes at that point. Then Wipeout got released and console gaming became grown-up. Everybody bought a PS, everybody bought Wipeout, everybody was much better at it stoned. Proper music, mental visuals, it was just mind-blowing when it came out and I still remember laughing at the one kid who insisted it wasn't as good as F-Zero. Nobody liked that kid and he grew up to be a traffic warden, there's probably a moral in that somewhere. To this day I am still awful at every Wipeout game unless I am heavily stoned, at which point I become merely a bit shit.

Super Monkey Ball - Gamecube

I never played beyond easy mode and with good reason, the main game is awful and frustrating and annoying. Monkey Target, the mini-game where you fly a hang-glider and try to land on targets in the sea however is incredible. So simple, so easy to learn, so hard to master, so satisfying the first time you land on a 500 point buoy without using the sticky power-up. Again, a game to play when fucked but such a good game to play fucked.

Quake - PC

Doom was great and Rise of the Triad was hilarious but it was Quake that really sold me on FPS games. Not only was it in jerky 3d, it was online, using a crappy modem and Barry's World and that was INSANE. In efforts to reduce ping, we used to play Quake with all the textures turned off. The corridors were plain white, friendlies were blue cubes, enemies red cubes and pickups green cubes. Ran at a ping of about 15 on dial-up. Rocket jumping, spawn killing, stupid, illegal character mods that added a massive spike to people's chests so you could see them coming, Quake had everything. I was even in a clan! It's a shame buying a rig capable of playing modern games is so prohibitively expensive because a lot of my happiest gaming memories seem to be on PC.

Final Fantasy XII - PS2

VII was the first I played, VIII was annoying, IX was for a long time my favourite, X was terrible then XII came along and was spectacular. Gone was the need to hammer the X button forever to win meaningless fights, this one was all about the setup and there's a weird sense of satisfaction at setting up your equipment and gambits just right to deal with every fight you come across in a certain area. XII has as much random silly shit as the others but for whatever reason, I could actually be bothered to track it down this time and I ended up with all the summons and killing all the optional bosses, something I've never bothered with in a FF game before. Sure the story is bollocks but they always are and I really liked the way that you're not really playing as the hero, at least not if you believe Balthier. I don't really have FF nostalgia and actually I really enjoyed FFXIII and XIII-2 but XII is the standout of the series for me.

Shin Megami Tensei Lucifer's Call - PS2

Nocturne in the US? Who knows. Anyway, the problem with most jrpgs is that they are very easy and this makes them dull. Even the "tougher" ones just require hours of boring levelling to get past any challenges. SMT is hard as balls and I love it for that. Random battles can easily kill you if you're unprepared, there are no areas in the game where you're safe from random battles and if you've got your party setup wrong, no amount of levelling will get you through. Not gonna lie, I used a guide heavily for the optional stuff in this but I did beat the devil and got the true demon ending which was a properly satisfying achievement in my book. This much mythology rolled into a game this tough is a perfect blend for me.

Pokémon Black - DS

All the pokemon games are basically the same and all of them are oddly addictive but Black was the first one that had a decent online trading mechanic meaning it was the first one in which you could realistically collect 'em all without needing a mate with the other version. I've spent hundreds of hours on this and almost got them all!

Burnout 3 Takedown - Xbox

As much a test of your reactions as a test of your racing skill, Takedown remains for me the pinnacle of online racing games. None of this open-world jumping through billboards bullshit, no hidden cars or driving between races, you got a list of races, you got a car, you got boost for driving into oncoming traffic and you held the boost button down all the time, hoping not to hit a bus. Fun in single player, Takedown was incredible online. Total silence over the headset followed by a torrent of swearing as someone took a corner too wide and smashed followed by even more swearing as the next person round the corner hit the wreckage. Revenge was a great game too but Takedown was the best.

Championship Manager 2 - PC

First time I saw my housemates at uni playing Champ Manager, I thought it looked like the most pointless, dull game ever. Lists of stats, no graphics at all and basically just football, which I have limited interest in at the best of times. Then they suggested I play it. Then I lost months of my life, doing nothing else but playing Championship Manager. It's the most weirdly addictive game ever, impossible to stop once you start playing. You'll start the season then want to just see how the first round of the FA cup goes, then just a couple more matches, then it's Champions League qualifiers and so on and so forth until suddenly it's five in the morning. Through playing CM2 I went from someone who knew little about football to someone who knew who was likely to win the Brazillian second division. The game is genuinely life destroying if you're not careful.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Shin, sorry to crap on a couple of your choices, but some rules we clarified in chat discussing this:
- As with Edge, nothing released before August 19th 1993
- We're not counting re-releases (unless you're naming the new version/remake as the game version you'd include, rather than just a way to include an earlier game)

(Have added to the top post)

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Seems a weird arbitrary cut-off point. Why not just call it 30 years and include everything since 1983, thereby capturing everything since playing computer games became realistically something you could do at home except Pong? Anyway, rules is rules so no Elite I guess. Pretty sure everything else on there is still valid though, UFO was 1994 and Transport Tycoon 1994 too. Wikipedia doesn't have a month of release for Syndicate so I'll assume it was after August in 1993 when I add that, primarily because without Syndicate in there the whole concept is meaningless anyway.

Edit: Oops, Chocks Away was 1990. All the best games came out before kids these days were born...

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

So here's a list of 20 things that kind of influenced how I saw games over the years.

Sonic CD (Sega CD - September 23, 1993)

Yeah, I have to have a Sonic game on the list, pretty much a requirement. While it didn't quite have the speed of the original Genesis games, Sonic CD took the game in a different direction with the time travel element and introduction of rival character Metal-Sonic. We got fucked on the soundtrack for some reason, and while that was kind of a downer it didn't stop how fun and visually appealing Sonic CD was.

Also, Sonic Boom. Sonic Boom greatest Sonic song of all time, I will fight you if you disagree.

Super Metroid (SNES - March 19, 1994)

Skills could probably :words: out about what makes Super Metroid so great better than I could, and I think just about anyone that's familiar with the series knows why this one is constantly pointed to as being the best. Because it kind of is.

Final Doom (PSX - October 1, 1996)

I remember when my older brother got his Playstation, along with Gran Turismo 2. I thought GT2 was neat, but the real fun was sneaking downstairs to his room at night when he was at work and playing Doom. I had never heard of it before and the game scared the shit out of then 10-year-old me, but it was totally worth it. Doom owns, and I'll forever remember going through and beating the game as being one of my favorite gaming experiences.

Ace Combat 2 (PSX - May 30, 1997)

Dawg, let me tell you about this game called Ace Combat. You've probably never heard us talk about it before right? You fly fighter jets in this fictional world called Strangereal to save the Usean continent from the rebel military. Only YOU, the amazing Scarface-1 can do it. Yup. This was the beginning of something awesome, from the soundtrack to the amazing selection of aircraft all the way down to the infamous tunnel run at the end. Ace Combat 2 will forever remain my favorite in the series.

StarFox 64 (N64 - July 1, 1997)

Oh man, StarFox 64. With it's amazingly corny dialogue and voice acting, and even more amazing gameplay experience. I remember sitting down with my friends and trying hard as fuck to figure out what the route to True Andross was. This was of course way before the internet made this kind of stuff easy and you had to use word of mouth and magazines, holy fuck do I feel old. The multi-player was pretty fun too, iirc.

Parappa The Rapper (PSX - October 31, 1997)

There are few games capable of being beloved across multiple generations, and I'll be damned if Parappa isn't one of them. My older brothers, myself, and even my 14 year old sister love the hell out of this game. It's so quirky, fun, and easy to pick up (and infinitely quotable). The graphics don't hold up at all and the choppiness of the actual "rapping" is hilarious, but that's part of its charm. Parappa will forever remain a gem. In the rain or in the snow, got the funky funky flow, bitches.

Brace Fencer Musashi (PSX - October 31, 1998)

The first Playstation game I got from my father back when I was first getting to know him, Musashi was something unlike anything I've ever played before. Running around as a miniature (and extremely rude) version of a Japanese historical figure and saving the people of a kingdom named after food was pretty funny to me. It was also very entertaining, didn't really require you to do any grinding and somehow got progressively sillier without ever killing the fun. That dungeon near the end where you had to use the calendar to figure out what doors to open stumped the fuck out of young me though.


Syphon Filter (PSX - January 31, 1999)

Before the whole third-person-shooter thing got ridiculously out of control, there was SF. A game where you ran around as some dude named Gabe (who had the funniest run animation in all of shooter history) and tasered the fuck out of everyone because lighting people on fire was way more awesome than shooting them. I'd like to think that Syphon Filter kind of opened the door for a lot of what was to come.

Ridge Racer Type 4 (PSX - May 4, 1999)

Oh my god, Ridge Racer. The first racing game I ever sat down and played with my dad, Ridge Racer was the definition of addicting. There were so many cars to unlock, so many different ways to play the Grand Prix, and it all looked so good (for the time) and the soundtrack is to date one of my favorite VGM soundtracks from start to finish. That feeling of drifting around the final corner neck and neck with your opponent to win never stopped being so good.

Quake III Arena (Dreamcast - October 22, 2000)

I remember when I first got this game and discovered the joy of online play, holy fuck. I would stay up way past bedtime with my little DC controller and keyboard, running around with rockets and shotguns. It was multi-player insanity at it's finest. It's also the first time I remember playing cross-platform with PC fuckers who would fuck us hard with the railgun. I didn't care, the game was too much fun. I had even joined a clan (NO RECOURSE 4 LYF) and everything. God the memories.

Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast - November 13, 2000)

JRPGs and I have never gotten along well, but Skies of Arcadia turned all that around. This was of course long before I became tired and jaded about how tedious random encounter systems could be, but that's beside the point. Skies of Arcadia was visually stunning, had an interesting cast, sported a great combat system in the ship battles, and who can say that they've never wanted to be a pirate? SoA had you covered man. Moonstone Cannon forever.

MechWarrior 4: Vengeance (PC - November 23, 2000)

MAD CAT MARK II WAS HERE SKILLS IS A LOSER

Grandia II (Dreamcast - December 6, 2000)

Talking Pet Eagle. Noriyuki Iwadare soundtrack. Okay so the end battle was the most retarded thing I've ever witnessed in my life but everything else about Grandia II was pretty great as far as JRPGs go.

Shantae (GBC - June 2, 2002)

The only game on the list I played long after its release, but it definitely deserves mention. WayForward's swan song of the GBC is a wonderful, wonderful game that shows how much love was put into it's creation from the moment you boot it up. It's not perfect (those god damn pitfalls that would start you back at the beginning of the travel areas arrgh) but it's about as close as you could get.

Warcraft III (PC - July 3, 2002)

I remember when this game swept over GFF like a fucking tsunami. We were all hyped for the beta, hyped even harder for the retail release, and I can't think of a PC game I've sunk more time into with this place. It was unbalanced as hell at first but we played and played and kept playing as long as we could because we didn't care. There was something great about completely crushing your opponents 3v3 or 4v4, and we had some pretty amazing tactical leaders on our side (Jenneriku come back ;___; ) that made the game all the more engrossing to play. And that's not even starting on the impact Warcraft III would have on the future of Blizzard releases and DOTA and all that shit.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GC - October 17, 2005)

Fire Emblem has, and probably will always be, my favorite SRPG. From the very day I played the first one on the GBA I was hopelessly hooked. PoR represents a high point in the series, with an epic overarching story, some huge maps/scenarios in the latter part of the game, and of course the best main character of all time Ike, who will always fight for his friends. RNG can still fuck off forever though.

Gears of War (Xbox 360 - November 7, 2006)

Love it or hate it, there's no denying what GoW and all of it's "EVERYTHING IS VARYING SHADES OF BROWN" did to the shooter genre. All of the overly muscled, alien fighting chainsaw gore will forever go down as something I look back on fondly.

Halo 3 (Xbox 360 - September 25, 2007)

I was torn between this one and ODST, but I think 3 is the point in the series was Halo was at it's best both story and multi-player wise.

Bastion (XBLA - July 20, 2011)

If I had to choose a representative for that whole "games as art" thing, Bastion would be it. Absolutely gorgeous visuals, solid narrative (I could listen to the narrator all day), and fluid gameplay all make for an experience that I think everyone should play at least once, even moreso than Machinarium which I gave Bastion the nod over for this list.

Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS - February 4, 2013)

I had to think a bit on what to close the list out with, and this seems like the most appropriate choice especially given Fire Emblem's shaky standing in the States. Awakening was going to be the last hurrah for the series if it didn't do all that well (Shadow Dragon kind of opened up Nintendos eyes to the fact that the series was on the decline) and Awakening blew everyone out of the fucking water. They brought back some elements from the older titles (most important being the marriage system), threw together a plot that you actually cared about, and through some kind of strange magic managed to make a title that was even better than the Gamecube offerings.

Awakening pretty much kicks ass in all of its categories, from writing to visuals to soundtrack, and I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out. Buying a 3DS if only for this game alone would have been totally worth it. Thankfully the 3DS has more to offer these days, but Awakening needs to be on everyone's list regardless of if you're a newcomer to the series or not. This is an SRPG at its absolute finest and I hope Intelligent Systems can keep this level of production up.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I approached this similarly to Tails in that I wasn't really looking for what I considered to be the objectively "best" games that I played, but rather which left the biggest impressions on me as a gamer and as a person. What was most interesting to me in compiling and then culling this list is the timing of everything. It's very apparent how the amount of time I have to play games has drastically changed over the years, and how games from my childhood have left a more significant impression on me that recent games - I'm sure this will the case for most people who respond to this, though. It also emphasizes the amount of time I spent on RPGs relative to most other genres.

I am absolutely not going to attempt to order these by preference unless I have to because that's way too difficult.

Taskmaker [1993, PC]

My first home computers as a child were Macs and I played a lot of shareware games growing up, this among them. It's not particularly deep but I played the hell out of it. It was also what first encouraged me to try to learn about hex/resource editing and pixel art, in order to put my own art into the game.

SimCity 2000 [1993, PC]

I think almost everyone who had a computer of some kind has played SC2K. This was my first SC as I'd never played the first one, but it stole countless hours of my life with the freedom to plan, terraform, and annihilate cities. YOU CAN'T CUT BACK ON PLAYING SC2K! YOU WILL REGRET THIS!

Super Metroid [1994, SNES]

This is one of the most perfect games I've ever played, from any genre, on any platform. The gameplay has so many interesting mechanics that are relatively easy to learn but phenomenally difficult to truly master. The graphics were fantastic, the music incredible, and the level design impeccable. It is probably the best example of a sequel that took what its predecessor had done and then improved on absolutely everything, without sacrificing any of what made the previous game so great. I cannot think of a single flaw.

Final Fantasy 6 [1994, SNES]

Does anyone really need an explanation of why this is here? Many argue this to be the greatest RPG of all-time, and while I don't personally agree with that it's a masterpiece of a game. I vividly remember that the first time I rented it as a kid I loaded up a save file that was on the game in the world of ruin, and went to the fanatics' tower. I had no idea what the hell was going on, and was very confused. I'm not sure why but that memory has always stuck with me when I think about this game.

Mega Man X [1994, SNES]

Like Super Metroid, I consider this game to be the perfect example of what it's trying to do. Before Capcom started running the Mega Man franchise into the ground, this game was released and I played it at a friend's place after he got it for his birthday, or something like that. It is, to this day, my favourite Mega Man game. The way it teaches you how the game mechanics work without a condescending and laborious tutorial is exactly how this kind of thing should be done. The music is also my favourite from the entire series.

Dark Forces [1995, PC]

Like the earlier "PC" games on this list, I played the Mac port, which was okay because its graphics were way better. I'd played things like Wolfenstein and Doom and Marathon previously, but this was an FPS that grabbed me in a way none of the others had, because it had source material I was both familiar with and of which I was a huge fan. I remember getting lost for hours in the sewers, and god damn man, every time I saw a dianoga surface was NOPE.JPG. Also you could look up and down, which was cool and something I wasn't used to from Id's games.

Full Throttle [1995, PC]

I had to get a LucasArts adventure game in here somehow, and the first two Monkey Island games were before 1993, so Full Throttle it is. I played the demo over and over as a kid and when I eventually played the full game I was a little bit surprised that it felt as short as it did compared to the other LA games I'd played, but man did it make every moment count.

Earthbound [1995, SNES]

This is possibly my favourite game, ever. I think I was in grade 5, and during our lunch break I was playing with some friends outside, and one of them started talking about this game. I don't remember exactly what about it he said, but he mentioned that it was set in the modern day and that you could eat hamburgers to recover health. Based on literally only that conversation, knowing nothing else about the game, I asked for it for Christmas and got it. Anyone who played the game back then understands why I hold it in such high regard. Anyone who hasn't played it should probably just kill themselves because their life is empty.

Terranigma [1995, SNES]

I loved Illusion of Gaia growing up, but Terranigma is Quintet's crown jewel as far as I'm concerned. This game was able to make me feel responsible for the game world and concerned with how my actions would impact it. The story was incredibly engaging and interesting, and wraps up with one of the best endings of any game I've ever played. If you haven't played this (and that's possible, since it never saw a North American release despite being fully translated into English for it's European release) you have to.

Chrono Trigger [1995, SNES]

Anchoring the 1995 juggernaut team of SNES RPGs is the other game that people tend to place up with FF6 as the greatest RPG ever made. This is another game where I have to really try to find any flaws. My only complaint is that it was really easy, but since I play RPGs primarily for the story and not for the difficulty it's not a particularly bothersome issue for me. This game might be what I would use as an example of the perfect RPG. The settings were all interesting and beautifully illustrated, the multiple characters interesting, the battle mechanics (dual/triple techs) really cool, and the music phenomenal. This game's attention to detail was great. I was talking with RR about this in IRC, and things like the Sun Stone side quest really exemplified how well the design team used the time travel mechanic.

Edit: I was thinking about this the whole time I was writing about Chrono Trigger, but then I forgot to actually put it down. I liked this game so much that it inspired me to write an entire pen and paper RPG adaptation a la Dungeons and Dragons with a magic system, dual/triple tech mechanics, and all sorts of other shit, when I was around 13 or 14 years old. To this day this is very likely the nerdiest thing I've ever done.

Mario Kart 64 [1997, N64]

Then the Nintendo 64 came out. This was a sleepover staple, and I don't even know how many nights I stayed up playing this game with friends until those absurd hours where everything becomes the funniest thing you've ever witnessed. BLOCK FORT REPRESENT.

Oh man, I just kind remembered this alternate game mode we used to play a lot. I don't recall the details, but it had something to do with the first player out becoming the bomb, and then everyone else would change objectives to try to use a star to take the bomb out, while avoiding being blown up by them, or something like that. Man that was fun.

WCW vs. nWo [1997, N64]

My step-brothers were huge wrestling fans, and we used to rent this game frequently. Watching VGCW, it's really kind of funny how little the mechanics of wrestling games seem to have changed over the last 15 years. This game wasn't amazing by any means, but the 4-player multi was always super entertaining and it's something that I still remember fondly.

Goldneye [1997, N64]

There's a lot of stuff I didn't include like Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, etc. It's interesting that up until this point, pretty much every game on my list was single player. The release of the N64 really shows how adding more than 2 people to a multiplayer game opened up a lot of replay value.

If there was a game that occupied more late nights and summer vacation sleepovers than Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye was it. As far as consoles are concerned this is the breakthrough FPS game and I'm sure everyone who had an N64 and friends has fond memories of this game. It was another one of those games that lended itself to the creation of your own rules outside of those imposed by the game to stretch the replay even further.

Fallout 2 [1998, PC]

Similar to how I felt about the LucasArts games, I needed a Fallout on this list. While the first one was perhaps better defined in its goals as a game, I always liked 2 more because it was longer and felt more wide open, which is one of the things I felt was important to Fallout games. I loved the skills system and how things that boosted your ability to communicate actually had an impact on the game by altering your dialogue options.

Suikoden 2 [1998, PSX]

Another case where I wanted to have a series represented and had to choose between games. I love Suikoden 1 as well, but this game just had everything I was looking for. I think part of what made it so great was that it was the same world as the first game, with character overlap and other cameos, so whereas everything in the first game was new, this game had those wonderful moments of familiarity that sometimes comes with playing sequels.

Age of Empires 2 [1999, PC]

This is the only game that's ever caused me to literally take my computer to a friend's place and have a legit LAN party. Teaming up against AI opponents was always fun, and I can still remember the feeling of panic as enemy combatants rushed toward my meager defenses. Few things in gaming were as satisfying as having a civilization completely wiped out save for a lone villager who had made it to an ally's settlement, only to rebuild and return to annihilate your previous assailant.

Asheron's Call [1999, PC]

This was one of the early MMOs. A friend of mine from an IRC channel I used to chill in back in the day gave me an extra beta key he had, and holy shit did I ever play the hell out of that game. There was something intoxicating about playing in a persistent world with thousands of other people, and I sunk more hours than I can guess into this game. I still have friends to this day that I met through it, and no other game I've ever played has evoked the same kind of feel for me that this game has. I've tried other MMOs here and there over the years, but none of them will ever compare to my memories of AC.

At the time, as I was still in high school, I found myself needing some extra income but didn't really have the time to devote to a regular job. Instead, I made a few extra bucks ghostwriting papers for a couple of people I knew going to university who had no interest in English courses but didn't want to have their GPA take a hit. I didn't have a credit card in order to pay for the subscription at the time, and my parents didn't like the idea of games with recurring fees, so in order to pay for it I had to get a friend of mine from IRC (who was conveniently a customer of mine) to let me use his credit card info, and then he'd just subtract the subscription fees from whatever he owed me for writing his papers.

Super Smash Bros. Melee [2002, GCN]

2002 was the year I graduated high school, so I had a lot of free time for a little while after that. None of us actually owned a Gamecube, but this game was so much fun we would plan Gamecube nights where someone would actually rent the system (with all the associated pain in the ass of renting a console) and we'd go to this one guy's place who lived on a fair bit of land and thus didn't have any neighbours nearby when his parents were on vacation, and load up on pop and snacks, and play this game forever. We'd play random matches where the winner kept their controller and the others switched, we'd play huge multiple-entrant tournaments, and we'd do this until the sun started to come up.

Tales of Symphonia [2004, GCN]

This was the first Tales game I'd played, and it is still my favourite. I don't even care how "lol JRPGs" it is, I legitimately thought the story was interesting, and I didn't find it convoluted or overbearing which are the more common criticisms I see. The music was wonderful, and represents to me one of the last Sakuraba-composed games I really really liked from a musical perspective. The art was charming (and looks awesome as hell with Dolphin resampling) and the battle system was fun as hell when playing with others. Playing through this game is one of my fondest gaming memories.

Mother 3 [2006, GBA]

Due to my fondness for Earthbound, I was eagerly awaiting the translation for this game for a very long time. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it given the weight of the nostalgia I had for its predecessor, I was looking forward to it. It's a very different game. It has all the same charm that you would expect from Itoi but it's presented with a very different feel. It's a very heavy game compared to Earthbound, and that's precisely why I like it so much. It's different enough that it tugs at the nostalgia a little bit, but it doesn't depend on it. This is another game (like Terranigma) where if you aren't going to finish it, don't even bother playing it. The ending is fantastic.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Fluffykitten McGrundlepuss

Seems a weird arbitrary cut-off point. Why not just call it 30 years and include everything since 1983, thereby capturing everything since playing computer games became realistically something you could do at home except Pong?

You're right, it is entirely arbitrary (though it's sort of not as it's based on Edge's lifetime, but for our purposes it totally is), but maybe if this is considered a success we can look at doing a best of decades, or something like that and take a look at stuff back in the 80s.

FELIPE NO

I guess I should lead by saying that I'm heavy into platformers and RPGs. I also realized as I looked at the list, that its rather unoriginal and conforms with a lot of entries in the "top ten lists of all time" lists. That being said, there are definitely a handful of entries that are near and dear to my hearts.

Donkey Kong Country
I remember trading in two games at the now defunct Funcolalaynd to get this game back in 1st grade. Graphically, it was unlike anything else I had seen before. Revolutionary two-player co-op, incredible music, awesome game play. It also had a minimalistic approach to its interface. No life bars and other counters like lives and bananas only stayed on screen temporarily. This is a game I still come back to.

Final Fantasy VI
An obvious entry into the list and also one of my first RPG experiences. I don't know what to say that hasn't already been said about this game.

Earthbound
A cult classic and personal favorite. From its unusual style to wacky writing, it was unlike anything else I played at the time. I have so many fond memories of playing and replaying this game. Its charm is undeniable and its legacy lives on today giving life to fan projects and having its characters featured in the Super Smash Bros universe.

Chrono Trigger
An easy choice. Great music, memorable characters, and time travel.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
I will go on a limb and say that I liked Yoshi's Island better than Super Mario World. The game had an impeccable art style and animation that still holds up today. The game also introduced Baby Mario, Baby Bowser, egg throwing, made Kamek a central character, revived the shy guys, introduced red coins (correct me if I'm wrong on any of these). Similar what Wario Land did to Mario Land, Yoshi branched off the main franchise and created its own franchise.

Super Mario 64
A game that pretty much wrote the handbook on 3D platformers.

Mario Kart 64
My favorite entry in the Mario Kart franchise before the blue shell was a broken nuke from hell. Seriously.

Final Fantasy VII
It's easy to lampoon this game now for many reasons, but I only have fond memories of playing this game. It's also a game that I go out of my way to replay every couple years.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
"What is man but a miserable pile of secrets."

Metal Gear Solid
I haven't played 4 so the jury is still out on the entire series, but this is definitely my favorite entry I played in the series. Gamers claim it as the godfather of the stealth genre. For me, I'm all about its ridiculous plot and insane villains. And Kojima trolling the gamer with Psycho Mantis.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Similar to FFVII, another easy entry that I have no shame including. I even played Master Quest (although I suppose you could consider that a whole different game if you'd like.)

Xenogears
My favorite RPG of all time. I should also say that Evangelion is also my favorite anime of all time. I played it at a time when I was also questioning religion (I was raised Catholic) so I honestly attribute my current state of agnosticism to playing this game. Literally, this game changed my life.

Unreal Tournament
Dual firing weapons, quick frenetic gameplay, capture the flag, online matches. Good stuff.

Jet Set Radio
I have a soft spot for this game. Me and all my friends back home passed the disc around and bonded over this game. It was so cool. And the music was awesome. And the plot wasn't bad either.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
I've logged more hours into this game than any other game on my list. While I'm not a competitive gamer, this is the fighting game I'm the best at. I definitely prefer Melee to the original and brawl. Brawl's introduction of Smash Balls didn't really do much for me and the slip mechanic killed it for me. I thought Melee had the tightest controls and the best roster of characters.

We <3 Katamari
I thought about this entry pretty hard because I wasn't sure I was going to include it but I had to go with my gut. I more expansive game than the first, the second entry featured more level designs, secondary objectives, dozens of playable cousins, and more zany music. This game has also helped me introduce many non-gamers to the world of gaming.

Shadow of the Colossus
A artful masterpiece with an immense sense of scale. The feeling of isolation. And the larger than life boss battles.

Portal
Formerly known as Nerbacular Drop, this student project turned Orange Box game brought me back into PC gaming and solidified for me Valve's position as a dominant force in the gaming industry. I know everyone loves the music (which I love), but I fell in love with the atmosphere.

Grand Theft Auto IV
Torn between this and the original GTA 3, however going back and playing GTA 3 it didn't hold up to the test of time. There was just so much to do in GTA IV. Not to say quantity is quality, but the level of polish and immersion in GTA IV is unreal it had me completely absorbed.

Super Mario Galaxy 2
Just beat this the other day. Wow. Talk about nostalgia.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I feel like my list of "best games" is just a list of "games I've played" because I've only seriously played a few games. The games I've played, of course, are a bit controversial in that they don't all appeal to everyone so either my nerdy friends here hate them or my friends in life have never heard of them. I'm alone, you see, but that's OK because I can't express myself properly all the time anyway.

I also can't do all 20 at once. It's just too much to ramble on about, which I'll be doing. These are my favorite games and yet many of them are deeply flawed, so forgive the incoherent stream of consciousness and what may seem like conflicting thoughts. This might be my list of most influential games or most memorable or games that have deeply scarred me. I apologize in advance.

Chrono Cross

because fuck abby

I played this game because my uncle bought it on a whim after falling in love with Final Fantasy 9. He didn't stick with it so I just played it while I was staying with him one summer years ago. I loved this game for one particular reason: a bajillion characters. About 100% of those characters were lame with either no story, too little story, or not an interesting story, but those characters were there and it required two complete play thrus and a half to acquire them all. I played the hell out of this game as a result and haven't touched it since. The game is flawed as a Chrono Trigger follow-up because nothing about it, aside from what feel like forced connections to the SNES classic, even tries to be a sequel to that game. The ire is deserved, due to it being marketed and titled this way, but I think it's good that Trigger didn't get a real sequel: that game was perfect on its own and didn't need more. This game ruined it's chance at that and any future attempts to do so, so thank you Chrono Cross. Thank you.

Final Fantasy VIII

because fuck everybody

I'm not sure what's more obnoxious, arguments about what the best FF was or the fact that everyone writes off Final Fantasy VIII as the worst so quickly. Let's all not forget that new Final Fantasy games are still being made and they have a tendency to be awful compared to the classics. To further annoy the world, Final Fantasy VIII was my first Final Fantasy game! I am known for being out of touch and I think this bit of my history seals that reputation down. When I played this game I fucking loved this game. I was really, really bad at it because I didn't have any RPG history and this game threw just about all the classic gameplay elements out. Leveling is pointless, magic was never to be used in combat, and there was no armor or weapons to buy. All of this was tossed aside for junction system which, despite the hate, I loved to death. I loved the collecting of new magic, I loved grinding it, and I loved turning cards from the card game into items that would become magic. I loved the GFs and their animations. I loved that you had to divvy them up between characters to get the most junctioning options per character. I loved the mix of a slightly futuristic and slightly medieval world, but do you know what I loved the most? FUCKING LAGUNA. Seriously, why wasn't this game about just his story? It's way more interesting and totally outshines the main plot, something I regularly try to forget. It took me a long time to finally beat the game because I was so bad at it, but I did, and the story is dumb and ends in a dumb way. I feel like it suffered from what might have been a tight schedule or just trying to put too many somewhat interesting but never fully fleshed out ideas into the main story. Either way, the world and the side characters always had my imagination going. There's so much not said or simply left hanging due to simple laziness that a kid like me would fill in the gaps and consider it amazing. In retrospect, it's seriously flawed, but my childhood glasses are rose tinted and I love going back from time to time to get in a quick Triple Triad game, get the Lionheart on disc 1, or try to kill all five cactuars before any ran away. Fuck those things, but they are cute.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance

First, I loved the core game. I got every dog tag, wrote really bad fan fiction that I never shared with anyone, and as a consequence played through it about 100 times in my life, which is probably just about accurate. Substance really blew it up for me, though, with another go at getting every dog tag, which I did again for the HD Collection, Snake Tales which are totally worth it for the final "Tale", and the VR Missions. This was my first serious, cognizant, very difficult attempt at a 100% rating in a game in all modes and it was not easy. The dog tags are tedius, sure, and can be particularly unforgiving if you forget one and you've progressed past any of the nearly impossible bosses and have to go back and try again. Those bosses, on the hardest difficulties, were, and still are, just complete bastards. The game forces you to drill, drill, drill your moves and hits down to muscle memory. The Harrier, for me, being the most difficult thing I've ever done, is a nightmare, but does not compare to the unsuspecting Level 5 Grenade VR mission for MGS1 Snake. It's hard to explain, but it is a fucking rage inducing experience. The calm music, the delayed explosions of the grenades, the lack of a cross-hair, the maze-like arena that reside around you but cannot be accessed from the floating island you stand upon, and all the damn targets moving around in erratic patterns. Nothing has had me jump for more joy that defeating this pointless thing, this gift from Satan. Of course, all of this bitterness would be pointless if not for all the excellence of the variety the VR missions had, which pit you against giant guards with Godzilla spine-fin-things, or taking photos of strangely behaving guards, shooting down an invading hoard of people from touching your precious cardboard box with a sniper, or just testing your skill in missions that actually show off the limits of the game play. The actual MGS2 game suffers from many things, but the biggest crime is a very limited use of the more interesting aspects of the engine they built and the game play they showed off in trailers. The VR missions bring on the serious quirkiness of Kojima and test a self-proclaimed fanatics skill. I really loved it and also really hated it. Totally worth it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

(you are the worst)

There's nowhere I can't reach.

As I mentioned in my opening post I viewed this a little like coming up with 20 games I'd want to put on show in a little museum/gallery display that represent the best games and best memories from the last 20 years of playing. There are possibly a few surprises alongside more obvious choices, and likely a couple of things people won't agree with, but here's my 20:


Micro Machines V3 [March 1997, PlayStation]

My gaming career is filled with many racing games from super-arcadey through to more simulation based examples, and it's a genre I've always had a liking for. The Micro Machines games represent some of the earlier examples of numerous hours being whiled away racing friends and nothing beat the mayhem of getting together, someone bringing a multi-tap and a few extra controllers, and then tearing around the crazy circuits (maybe trying to mess with each other in the process). This was a tough call between MM V3 and Micro Machines Turbo Tournament '96 (on the Mega Drive) as both got serious hours of play, but V3 is perhaps the best of the series and so earns its place here (plus it had one of the coolest menu systems).


Super Mario 64 [March 1997, N64]

Probably one of the more obvious choices on this list, but it's hard not to think what a landmark game Mario 64 is and just how good it made platforming in 3D feel. It's also hard to forget the countless hours spent round my mate's house working on the hunt for all 120 stars. Despite excellent later entries in the Mario series, like Galaxy, Mario 64 is still the touchstone for platforming games.


Soul Blade [May 1997, PlayStation]

Growing up there were no arcades near me and so the only time I really got to see and play arcade machines was on holiday or the odd trip to seaside. And so it was on my family's summer holiday of 1996 that I came across the Soul Edge arcade machine on our holiday camp, which I then spent every day sinking my daily allowance into playing. Once I heard it was coming to PlayStation I started saving. Street Fighter II was great, I'd enjoyed Tekken, but Soul Blade was the first fighter I got utterly sucked into and sank many, many hours into. Soul Caliburs 1 and 2 may be better games overall Soul Blade is the version for me that belongs on this list.


Final Fantasy VII [November 1997, PlayStation]

There's a little backlash against Final Fantasy VII these days but as a lad in the UK I remember excitedly getting on the back of my dad's motorbike to head into town to collect my pre-order on launch day. I remember reading CVG 3 or so years prior to the game's release and instantly knowing this was a game I needed to play. This was, also, my first exposure to the Final Fantasy series and whilst VI is possibly the better game (and I have a super soft-spot for IX) there's no denying the impact this game had on my game playing life and the fond memories I have of it.


The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [December 1998, N64]

A Link to the Past is the game that turned me into a gamer so it's fair to say I pretty was excited and nervous for Ocarina of Time before it hit. It was hard to know how the feel of Zelda would translate to 3D, but the success of Mario's transition to 3D at least gave some confidence, plus all the pictures in magazines looked amazing. Ocarina of Time was the game I bought my N64 for and, like Mario 64 to Mario, remains a touchstone for the Zelda series.


Metal Gear Solid [February 1999, PSX]

I was a fan of the International Superstar Soccer games but it'd be fair to say that my purchase of ISS Pro 98 was somewhat motivated by the demo of Metal Gear Solid it included. This was a game I had to have and I sank many hours into repeated plays of the original Metal Gear Solid. I'm not sure I'd played anything like MGS before it came out, and certainly I don't think I had experienced any moments that caught me off guard as much as something like the Psycho Mantis fight, or made me feel bad for my actions like the death of Sniper Wolf. MGS felt special and certainly deserves to be here.


Perfect Dark [June 2000, N64]

Since this list is in chronological release order you may have noticed the absence of one Bond-starring N64 shooter. There's no doubt that GoldenEye 007 was a huge game and a fond favourite of many gamers (myself included), but for me it's spiritual successor Perfect Dark that deserves the place on this list. Perfect Dark may not have had Bond, but Joanna Dark's adventures took the formula refined it and threw in a bunch of interesting toys to play with. Perfect Dark usurped GoldenEye's place as to the go to multiplayer shooter amongst me and my friends and we had countless hours of fun setting up silly custom matches and shooting each other. It may not be the obvious choice, but for me it's the right one.


Shenmue [November 2000, Dreamcast]

The Dreamcast had plenty of cracking games, but Shenmue was something a bit special. I'm not going to claim it was a perfect game, but it's hard not to admire the scope and ambition of the game, or the series (short-lived as it was), and all the things it tried to do. I was fully invested in the story of Ryo Hazuki and as that boat sailed off into the sunset and towards Hong Kong I couldn't wait for Shenmue 2 to continue the story. Still to this day I secretly wish for Shenmue 3 and a conclusion to the tale.


Skies of Arcadia [April 2001, Dreamcast]

The other RPG I'll forever love the Dreamcast for, Skies of Arcadia. This game was a rock solid RPG with an interesting cast, a brilliant and imaginative world, fun combat, a Suikoden-like "recruit people, increase your abilities" feature, and sky pirates! If there was any other Dreamcast game I wish we could get a sequel to, this is it.


Grand Theft Auto: Vice City [November 2002, PC]

Both the original Grand Theft Auto and GTA 3 are landmark games, GTA 3 in particular as it has had a fairly significant impact on gaming since its introduction. However, for me if I have to pick an example of the series to put in this list it would have to be Vice City. Vice City delivered on the gameplay of GTA 3 in a brilliant cohesive 80s setting. Plus it had that wonderful soundtrack, can't forget that.


Burnout 3: Takedown [September 2004, Xbox]

When the Burnout series hit I was immediately sold with the idea of taking risks to gain a reward and potential advantage (less of an advantage if you crunch nose first into a lorry) but it was with Burnout 3 and the introduction of the, now signature, takedowns that the Burnout series hit its stride. This game had a brilliantly manic sense of speed, included a good range of modes (including probably the best version of Crash mode) and is just glorious fun. Of the series Burnout 3: Takedown is the one the needs to be here.


Shadow of the Colossus [February 2006, PS2]

If you've not played Shadow of the Colossus it's hard to describe just what makes that game special as it's all about the feel: the sense of scale, the danger and excitement, and the sadness of claiming the lives of these ancient creatures. Shadow of the Colossus is simply a beautiful game and a wonderful experience.


Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare [November 2007, Xbox 360]

Like many gamers I've enjoyed many FPS games over the years and sunk a good number of hours into the likes of Battlefield 2 and Call of Duty 3 (the first console game I spent a decent amount of time online with), but it's hard to deny the impact Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare had on the genre. The game had a great, thrill-ride of a campaign was with standout moments like 'Shock and Awe' and 'All Ghilled Up' and the multiplayer was fantastic with its perks and killstreak rewards, occupying numerous enjoyable hours with friends as we worked towards those top ranks. Modern Warfare is the game that turned Call of Duty into the mega-franchise it is now and set the tone for online FPS multiplayer since.


Professor Layton and the Curious Village [February 2008, Nintendo DS]

As soon as I read about this game I knew it was something I had to play, so much so that I immediately imported it from the States upon release. I'm a sucker for a good puzzle and the DS with its touchscreens and stylus lent itself perfectly to a good puzzle game. Professor Layton then wrapped that concept it in an utterly charming world filled with wonderful characters, beautiful artwork and animation, and top notch music; and a gentlemen never turns down the opportunity to enjoy something so lovely. The series may stick to a fairly standard formula, but any time I get to spend with Hershel Layton, Luke and the assortment of interesting characters that populate their world is time well spent, and Curious Village was the letter of invitation that provided our introduction.


Halo 3: ODST [September 2009, Xbox 360]

Halo: Combat Evolved is another FPS that had a profound impact on the gaming landscape and could easily have found its way to this list. But, for me when picking a Halo game that deserves a spot in the top 20 I have to go with Halo 3: ODST as it includes my favourite campaign of all the Halo games. It was built off of the rock-solid engine that powered Halo 3 and also delivered Bungie's take on horde mode with Firefight, which proved to be a decent timesink in and of itself. Again, perhaps not the obvious pick but the one I have to go with.


Vanquish [October 2010, Xbox 360]

Platinum Games are probably best known for Bayonetta, which is itself a masterful game, but for me their best work so far is Vanquish. 3rd person shooters have been more than a little influenced by the Gears of War series, with plodding hulking beefcake soldiers hiding behind chest-high walls in brown/grey environments being all serious and gruff. Vanquish has chest-high walls sure, but the game also has you rocket sliding across the battlefield to boost-kick a robot in the face, launch yourself into slow-mo mode so you can shoot the next bad guy before it can react (oh and it's story is utterly silly and camp). Vanquish is a glorious burst of fun and inventive gameplay, and easily one of my favourite games of the last few years without a doubt.


Bastion [July 2011, XBLA]

The indie-game movement has certainly taken off in recent years and if any game demonstrates the kind of gems that small developers are capable of delivering then Bastion is it for me. The gameplay is rock solid, but the artwork, story and music in this game are straight up beautiful. Then there's that constant narration that shouldn't work, and yet it does; and it works in a way that helps to tell the story and build the crazy world you find yourself exploring. Bastion is such a well-executed whole that with just one game under their belts I already feel confident and excited for Supergiant Games' next.


Minecraft [November 2011, PC/XBLA]

I'll admit I was sceptical about Minecraft before I gave it a go, but once you get hands on it's not hard to see just why this game has been such a hit. This is a game that, on the surface of things, seems very simplistic, but has a remarkable amount of depth. The most important and powerful aspect is the opportunity to be creative; it's almost daunting how much you can create and just what the seemingly simple tools allow you to achieve. But it's fantastic fun to do so, and spending time with friends building a replica of Castle Grayskull has been some of the best times I've had with mates in co-operative gaming. And then throw in that this is another game that has had a huge influence on the gameplay landscape, from gameplay elements like crafting to development aspects like delivery and funding; this is absolutely a game that deserves a place in this list.


Fire Emblem: Awakening [April 2013, Nintendo 3DS]

There was an argument to be made for Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones or Advance Wars, but for that style of tactical RPG there's little doubt in my mind that Fire Emblem: Awakening is the best in class. This game delivers on all fronts and has hopefully demonstrated that these kind of games deserve a place in our ongoing gaming landscape.


The Last of Us [June 2013, PlayStation 3]

I can see this being the most controversial of my picks, but here it is. Ultimately this came down to a decision between The Last of Us and Naughty Dog's other top class game Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Whist these games play very differently and are tonally worlds apart I feel they occupy the same sort of space in delivering top of the line cinematic experiences with emphasis in building character and story. And it's on that level that The Last of Us is the pick for me, with some of the most involving character and story work I've experienced in a game. This was a world and story I totally bought into and as a result the game delivered an amazing experience that'll stick with me for years to come.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Although I like playing games, I never really had a gaming console or PC when we were growing up. It was only after I graduated high school that I owned a PC and had access to more games. So I'm not surprised that I've never played more than half of the games on this thread. My list may not be as obscure(?) as others, but I consider them the best that I've played so far.

1. Final Fantasy IX - FF7 was my first, FF8 was ok, but FF9 turned out to be the best Final Fantasy experience I've ever had. Sure, most people will say FFVI is the best, but I've never beaten it yet (I'm getting there). FF9 had a wonderful and loveable cast of characters, beatifully designed environment, a great world, funny dialogue, and good music. I still think it's the best Final Fantasy game ever.

2. Xenogears - While we're still talking about RPGs, I would like to mention that this game is one of my favorite games. I think the whole psychology/existential/bible stuff they packed in this game appealed to my rebellious teenager blood. Plus you can't deny the awesomeness of fighting in giant robots. Now that I think of it, the story was a bit too ridiculous.

3. Starcraft - I'm pretty sure everyone played this game. When I was young, it was pretty rare for someone to own a PC, so kids play games at an internet cafe/shop. And this game is the most popular among kids to play during that time. We used to spend 2-3 hours after school playing this game before heading home. I remember during our prom night, a few of my friends and I skipped the dancing and played some Starcraft instead. I think is should go and buy Starcraft 2 already.

4. Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusa's Revenge - Best 2D fighting game ever, or best 2D fighting game ever? With fast sword combos & parries, it puts Street Fighter's slow brawler fighting mechanic to shame. Plus it got ninjas, samurais, samurai chicks, ninja chicks, sword powers, Hanzo Hattori's 4-hit instant-KO combo, and more!

5. Quake 2 - This is probably the first multi-player FPS game that I have really enjoyed. The fast pace and variety of weapons (Rail Gun) made it a fun game to play with friends. Of course, we also played this at the internet cafes. And the first game I played with mods! The Darth Maul mod was pretty popular among the kids in my neighborhood.

6. Diablo 2 - Still the best dungeon crawler/loot collecting game. I had this on my PC and will save my character on a diskette, go to class, and afterwards play at a neary shop with my saved character, go home and continue playing after dinner. Cloud saves? What's that? It's al in the diskette, baby.

7. Tekken 3 - Another of my favorite fighting games. Tekken 3's improvement is leaps and bounds compared to Tekken 2 and the gameplay is a lot more smoother which allows for more juggles and combos. Played this a lot on the arcade, although I prefer playing it on the PSX because the controls are easier.

8. Resident Evil 2 - Personally the best RE game ever. The gameplay is more solid and organized while retaining the same horror atmosphere of the first game.

9. Silent Hill 3 - Hells yeah, Heather! Why don't they make horror games like this anymore? This is my favorite Silent Hill game. The horror and survival elemnts were very well balanced, without sacrificing the trademark Silent Hill creepiness.

10. Metal Gear Solid - Well, I hope everyone agrees that this is one hell of a game. The sneaking aspect of the game was very new to me at that time and I really enjoyed it. The multi-layer espionage story with a lot of military sci-fi elements really hooked me in, and of course that big ass robot! And Meryl.

11. Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly - This is the scariest game I've ever played. No shit. Plus, I play it after school, with the lights off and on a headset. The 1st game was scary enough, but this game is shit-your-pants-scary. I tried the 3rd game and was very disappointed that it was no where near this game. I hope they make a new one that's as good as this.

12. Professor and the Curious Village - Puzzles and stuff! Sometimes I feel like I'm really smart, and most of the time I feel like a bag of potatoes. Played all of the games except for The Eternal Diva on the 3DS (hopefully I can get a 3DS by the end of the year).

13. Dead Space - Because I like horror games and it's in space! The Necromorphs are pretty cool too. This kind of revived the survival horror fan in me. Plus, that ending is really cool.

14. Shadow of the Colossus - Man, just seeing the previews for this game really made me want to play it. Fighting the first colossi was just amazing, little did I know that there were even more bigger ones in the game. It's an amazing experience.

15. Portal 2 - The part where you fall down to the old testing facility and discover the history of the place gave me a sense of awe and amazement and felt like I was discovering something real and unknown. That and the puzzles. Oh and the funny British robot.

16. Final Fantasy VIII - Dat opening sequence. And that spaceship! It's named Ragnarok, how can you not like that?! Other than that, I liked the Tripe Triad mini game (which is the best FF mini-game), there was a good story even though it had it's shortcomings, and I also liked the GF system.

17. Tomb Raider (2013) - Because I really like it and I don't care what the fanboys say.

18. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - This is the first Zelda game I've finished and I really liked the art style and the overall gameplay. It really makes us of the DS's features to it's full potential, and I felt like it was very interactive and engaging.

19. DotA - The original game, not the one from Valve. It had a very steep learning curve, but once you get it, it's gonna suck you in. Played a lot of this even before LoL or DotA 2 were released. I may not be very good at it, but it's a lot fun playing with friends.

20. I ran out of games to mention.

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Vaginal Assault

I loved this game for one particular reason: a bajillion characters. About 100% of those characters were lame with either no story, too little story, or not an interesting story, but those characters were there

You very badly need to play Suikoden.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Axelrod :shoryuken: Axelrod

You very badly need to play Suikoden.

I've played Suikoden 2 and I really liked that game for similar reasons. Plus, it's a better game. Unfortunately I was only borrowing it so I never got a full experience.

Suikoden is a series I need to desperately catch up on.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'm really terrible with words, and I tend to like very similar things in all my games, so I'm afraid you will see excessive amounts of "narrative", "engaging", "superb", "wonderful" and "atmosphere".

It goes without saying there are a LOT of completely astounding videogames I've left out of the list, but consider this a sort of mixture of personal, personal favourites and "games you need to play before you die".


==========


1. ICO (PS2)

Hands down my favourite videogame of all time. A beautiful distillation of what can be done with videogames, without bogging it down with excess bloat of moral choices, customisation, multiplayer or multiple endings. I mean even those are all there, just seamlessly integrated, or held back as a cute bonus. A simple, engaging fairytale told elegantly, it's a beautiful, touching journey with wonderful sights, sounds, and tiny narrative arcs woven into gameplay and its mechanics.

2. Vagrant Story (PS1)

My second favourite game of all time. This came out at a time when medieval settings were one of the least interesting things I could think of, so I basically skipped out on picking it up. I ended up borrowing it from a friend and started playing as I was supposed to be making dinner downstairs, boiling potatoes. The opening intro, with its superbly directly cutscenes, playable sequences, amazing music, punchy yet prosaic dialogue and just really gripping narrative got me so hooked I burnt the potato kettle really, really badly.

That game is a superb action RPG with a weird and deep real time/turn based combat system and one of the most gripping and exciting stories I've ever encountered in games. From the opening moments I was completely hooked on the storyline, the complex characters and the strong atmosphere. I kept playing because I HAD to find out what happens next, and at the time I had not run into games that dealt with themes of identity, guilt and repressed memories in quite this way. The cast of characters is vast and wonderful, the environments incredibly atmospheric, with the city of Leá Monde, with its alleyways, rooftops, cathedrals and underground dungeons becoming an important character of their own.

Featuring one of the greatest soundtracks ever (from the wonderful Hitoshi Sakimoto), Vagrant Story was an incredible journey, an intriguing murder mystery, a gripping political conspiracy, a haunting portrait of a site of deep tragedy and an engaging character study of a broken protagonist, and had one of the most powerful and moving endings I've yet to see in a videogame.

One of my favourite tales in any media, I enjoy replaying it yearly.

3. Rez (PS2)

Third favourite videogame ever, Rez was a wonderful fusion of sight, sound and gameplay, a hypnotic Panzer Dragoon style musical shooter where everything you do creates notes, with you essentially making up part of the background music as you shoot your way through a virtual reality in an effort to liberate an AI.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi combined his love of videogames, Kaminsky and electronica to explore the evolution of cultures and life itself, all the while making an amazingly satisfying and heady shooter, and one of the most striking and original action videogames around.

A superb soundtrack makes this an absolute (if short) masterpiece. The final level is one of the greatest things you will ever experience.

=======


From here on I can't really put them in any kind of particular order, so here's the remaining 17 without numbered spots, as the order doesn't really matter:


Secret of Mana (SNES)

Part of the trinity of my 10/10 SNES games, Link to the Past and Super Mario World were sadly released outside outside this 20 year limit. Secret of Mana is a beautiful action RPG with an engaging story, vast world to explore, likeable characters, a great soundtrack, a superb and unique GUI ring system and the coolest dragon ever made, Flammie.

Plus you can play it through with two friends, but even on your own it's an amazing epic well worth experiencing and revisiting. WELCOME TO MATANGO.

Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time (N64)

Ocarina of Time always makes everyone's top videogames lists and with good reason. It may not have aged AMAZINGLY in terms of graphics but at the time it looked absolutely incredible, and I feel it still looks very nice today.

It's a massive adventure, effortlessly fusing exploration, discovery, combat, puzzles and even bits of stealth, with an engaging storyline, a wonderful cast of characters. It was a superb transfer from 2D to 3D, with inventive use of space, scale and pacing, and some revolutionary elements, from Z-targeting (now aped in pretty much every single third person and first person game where you lock onto something with a shoulder button) to the auto-jump.

For me, it's "just" a fondly remembered adventure I remember playing for months and months, discovering all the little secrets and details, but as well as remembering it fondly, I have a deep respect for what it achieved and how it affected the industry. There are probably a lot of gamers today who never played Ocarina of Time itself, but they have played bits of it in many, many other games since.

Planescape: Torment (PC)

I played this years too late, but it turned out to be a deeply affecting experience. Just going to copypaste what I wrote back in 2009:

"Intelligent, beautiful, inspiring.

One of the greatest narratives of anything, Torment is a CRPG set in a fascinating D&D universe of Planescape and tells a mesmerising story of an immortal amnesiac in search of his memories, but also purpose. Beautifully written, with hours of engaging dialogue, great characters, meaningful freedom of choice and roleplay, and wonderful, non-linear storytelling. An affecting experience I hope more and more people get to play through."

Grim Fandango (PC)

My favourite adventure game, Grim Fandango is a FANTASTIC tale of a Land of the Dead travel agent who gets mixed up in a film noir mystery of murder, conspiracy, dangerous skeleton women, underground resistance groups, a giant, orange demon mechanic with a drinking problem, and Robert Frost shaped balloons, among other things.

Filled to the brim with wonderful characters, excellent writing and a god-tier jazz soundtrack, it's a very funny, intelligent and thoroughly enjoyable adventure that everyone should experience.

Metroid Prime (GC)

Another amazing 2D to 3D transfer, Metroid Prime also perfected controls for a first person controlled adventure game, with superb use of lock-on and UI. A deeply atmospheric adventure on the planet of Tallon IV, Metroid Prime was filled with beautiful environments that were great fun to explore, a masterful soundtrack, excellent boss fights and incredible little details like steam fogging up your helmet visor, to the little droplets of rain as you look up, elevating the game from "really great" to "just plain magical".

Radiant Silvergun (Saturn)

I've always enjoyed Treasure's action games, but this is their magnum opus. A dizzyingly vast and hectic vertical scrolling 2D shooter with a unique RPG like weapon system, color based chaining, an absolutely amazing soundtrack, beautifully inventive boss fights, an engaging storyline and, of course, the sword.

The sword is one of the most fun and versatile weapons I've ever experienced in an action game. It works as an offensive and defensive weapon, doubling as your smart bomb and offering an amazing degree of control and finesse to its use.

Pick up the XBLA port or play the game on SSF. Either way you need to experience it.


Wario Ware Inc. (GBA)

Was torn between this and Rhythm Tengoku, but in the end the original eked out a slight lead. A beautiful deconstruction of videogame activities, it's a hilarious collection of wonderfully imaginative minigames, played back to back in super short bursts. An incredibly charming love letter to videogames and Nintendo, with a loveable cast of characters and terrific music and sound design, it plays around with structure and pacing, constantly delighting you in new and funny ways.

And as the ultimate proof of how great and important a title Wario Ware is, it received the mandatory clone on the PSP, in WTF Work Time Fun. Which of course completely misunderstood what made WarioWare so special.


Rock Band 2 (PS3)

Basically Rock Band 1 + 2 as I feel they complement each other. Copypasting from 2010:

"I mostly played these by myself, but even then they are two of the most wonderful videogame experiences one can have. Amazing song selection, peerless audio, a wonderful visual style that's warm, charming and completely nails the basement band feel, complete with T-shirts and worn amplifiers. Everything flows with a deep, deep love and respect for music and the performance.

Rock Band 2, combined with Rock Band 1's songs, is the greatest music game there will ever be, and one of the most satisfying, one of the most fulfilling, engaging and downright magical experiences you can have with a videogame console.

And that's even before I finally bit the bullet and bought some DLC tracks. Eminence Front and I Got Mine have never been so satisfying than now."

Halo - Combat Evolved (XBOX)

Another game I played years after its release but still absolutely adored. I've completed it five times now and it's somehow one of those games that will probably never get old for me. Beautiful to look at, superb fun to play, with still some of the best controls in a console FPS, it seamless fuses tight corridors, furious firefights, stealth, exploration, large scale battlefields, vehicles and wonderful scifi narrative with plenty of great dialogue, plot twists, intrigue and deep melancholy, with an absolutely god-tier soundtrack.

I really enjoy the later games in the Halo series (especially ODST) and have read many of the books, but it is the first game that really truly still feels "special" to me, rather than merely "great" (Reach, ODST, Wars) or "okay" (2, 3). I have Halo 4 waiting and looking forward to going through its campaign. We'll see how it turns out.

Bayonetta (360)

"The most glorious action title in recent years. Smart, wonderfully animated, dizzyingly hectic, beautifully paced, brimming with imagination, amazing setpieces, cheeky (and some genuinely funny) humour, knowing references to pop-culture and Sega's back catalogue, as well as determination to entertain and challenge the player the whole way through."

Final Fantasy VII (PS1)

While FFVI is arguably the better game, VII holds an obvious special place in my heart for being the first Final Fantasy I actually got to play, rather than just read about on the pages of Super Play.

Just as well, as I still love FFVII. It has an incredibly engaging storyline, with a huge cast of memorable characters you genuinely grow to care deeply for (looking at you, VIII), a terrific soundtrack, a massive, beautiful world to explore and tons and tons of great setpieces, plot twists and little tiny moments that engage and stay with you after the story is over.

Just like VI.

Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES)

I absolutely adore DKC, but 2 is the one I like best. It took the original and improved it in a billion ways, giving you more to do, and looking even prettier while you do it all. One of the few games I've genuinely played to 100% completion (102%), it will remain one of my favourite Rare games, and because Super Mario World can't make it, it will be my 2D platformer of choice on this list.

Resident Evil (GC)

For ages I was torn between this and Resident Evil 2 as my favourite RE game, but the GameCube remake makes the list for being not only a fantastic Resident Evil game, but a remarkable example of how remakes/reimaginings of older games should be done (looking at you, shoddy HD "collections"). A super atmospheric haunted house of survival horror, receiving an astoundingly pretty overhaul on visuals and audio, REmake is a winning formula of incredibly tense dread, horror, action, exploration, puzzles as well as inventory and resource management. Not to mention the finest videogame ass there is.

It's not too late, Capcom! You can still remake Resident Evil 2 with this engine on the Wii U!

Metal Gear Solid (PS1)

The series later went batshit stupid, but this one still stands as an incredibly atmospheric and inventive military thriller, with a great cast of characters, a genuinely engaging narrative and an at the time unprecedented attention to detail, the game was packed with amazing moments of gameplay and cinematic inventiveness, with action setpieces and memorable boss fights as well as superb little touches to delight and marvel at.

When a boss characters reads your memory card to see what konami games you've played and then uses telekinesis to move your actual controller around on the floor, that's when you have something truly special.

Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time (GC)

Another fantastic 2D to 3D transfers, Sands of Time is a wonderful tale of high adventure and arabian mystique. It does super exciting things with narrative, pacing, level design and beautifully integrates player failure and death into a part of the gameplay and storyline. Its characters are likeable, its atmosphere wonderful, and it offers you a genuine ADVENTURE and JOURNEY you will want to see to the end and will have great fun during it.

Castlevania - Symphony of the Night (PS1)

An amazing mix of RPG and Metroid, with wonderfully intricate sprite art everywhere, and a vast, VAST castle (or two) to explore, with tons of atmosphere, multiple endings, massive boss fights and a fantastic soundtrack.

Ghost Trick (DS)

I wrote a piece on it for gamers month, but suffice to say it's another crazy adventure game from the creator of Phoenix Wright, with you playing as a spirit trying to prevent people's deaths and solving a great mystery in the process. It has a massive range of excellent characters, has a unique and completely charming look, with excellent music and a gripping storyline with plenty of twists. Play it. Buy ten copies.


===========

Honourable Mentions:

Max Payne 1 & 2, Halo: ODST, Blast Corps, Goldeneye 007, Super Mario 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Silent Hill 1-3, Chrono Trigger, Jet Set Radio, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Syndicate Wars, The Dig, Full Throttle, Psychonauts, Resident Evil 4, Half-Life 2, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy XII, Grandia, Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter, Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, Super Metroid, Yoshi's Island, Ridge Racer Type 4, Dino Crisis, Manhunt, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Contra 4, Muramasa, Shantae, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Vanquish, Infinite Space, Journey, Bastion, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto IV, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Crackdown, Dead Rising, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, Viewtiful Joe, Thief 1 & 2, Hitman: Blood Money, Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Stunt Race FX, Lylat Wars, Gravity Rush, Limbo, Hotline Miami, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Mass Effect, Enslaved, Demon's Souls, Minna no Rhythm Tengoku, Portal, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Dishonored, Spec Ops: The Line, STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, Gradius V, Guardian Heroes, Machinarium, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, F-Zero GX, Super Monkey Ball, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Advance Wars, Full Spectrum Warrior, Terranigma, Patchwork Heroes, Locoroco, LittleBigPlanet, Shadow of the Colossus, Tenchu: Fatal Shadows, Okami, Katamari Damacy, Genji: Dawn of the Samurai, Disgaea, Wipeout 3, Rival Schools

FELIPE NO

Q, you know that Ico has multiple endings, right? :3

:watermelons:

Also loving your list of honorable mentions.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

That's.. what I said. All the listed things are in the game.

How ya doing, buddy?

Obviously I need to learn how to read better from my phone. I suck.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

RPG or RPGish

• Skies of Arcadia

• Final Fantasy IX

• Final Fantasy VI

• Chrono Cross

• Shenmue

• Elder Scrolls III: Morrowwind

• Diablo II

• Planescape Torment

• Deus Ex

Shooter types

• Metal Gear Solid

• Goldeneye 64

• Halo

• Bioshock

• Unreal Tournament

Strategy

• Starcraft

• Warcraft II

Action/Adventurish

• Silent Hill

• Grim Fandango

• Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Racing

• Mario Kart 64

Listed genres after the fact...just because. Tempted to throw in Portal 2 somewhere, but just couldnt replace anything. Same with Thief and System Shock 2.


I'll probably go into some further detail later.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Wait what, I didn't know ICO had multiple endings!!

Also, I'm sorry Q, I did not include REmake in my list

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

You should be. Go edit your post right this minute young man

And yes, the European and Japanese versions have a little bonus ending if you pick up a watermelon at the last beach and carry it with you to the ending.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I'll try to avoid too many prior nominations, but there are a few that warrant further mentioning. I'll also try to add images and sounds that immediately pop into my head when I think of these particularly good games.

Full Throttle - PC, 1995
DAT TITLE THEME

Spoiler:

YouTube Video

Also, like all those old LucasArts SCUMM adventure games, it had really clever puzzles and visuals that evoke powerful nostalgia these days.

Suikoden - Playstation, 1995
I did not actually play this until 1997 after I got over my dislike of RPGs, which I mention in the next entry. An enormous world filled with bizarre and colorful characters who were almost bizarre and colorful as the translation ("All this killing in front of a children."). The particular standouts, though, were the vivid backgrounds and killer soundtrack.

Spoiler:

YouTube Video

Super Mario RPG - SNES, 1996
This was the RPG to get me into RPGs. Prior to this, I had a complete indifference to --or perhaps even slight disdain-- for the genre. I originally got it because it was a Mario game. Now it's religiously replayed about once a year, and I would kill to have it on a handheld to take on the road.

Spoiler:

YouTube Video

Resident Evil 2 - Playstation, 1998
Remember when Capcom actually made good games? And Resident Evil was actually pretty scary? Memories!

Spoiler:

YouTube Video

Suikoden II - Playstation, 1999
Took the original and refined it. A villain --who wasn't even anywhere close to being the final boss-- that took a team of eighteen playable characters to kill. Slightly weaker soundtrack, but much stronger story, setting and gameplay. I still measure most RPGs against this one.

Spoiler:

YouTube Video

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - PC/Xbox 360, 2006
Yes, the Empire was populated by glowing potato-head people, but it was still a technical marvel for its sheer scale. I remember running out of that sewer tunnel for the first time and going exploring. I found myself at a tiny body of water and jumped in, thoroughly pleased that I wouldn't drown. Then I saw the dead body floating there and, upon searching him, found a hand-written note that initiated a quest. My mind was blown by that nonlinearity.

Spoiler:

YouTube Video

Phew, this is actually quite time-consuming for me. I'll probably just try to add to it over the course of a couple days. I'll also fill in that large gap between '99 and 2006.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Much like Tails, this is "Top 20 Games That Have Made Impressions Upon Me"
It's also important to note that my consoles as a kid were an Atari 2600, an Atari 5200 & an NES, until 2000 (when I got a Gameboy Color). I was a PC kid, rocking a Pentium 90 until 1998 when we got a Pentium 2 running Windows 95!

I also don't write nearly as well as most of you ;_;


Entries are in the order they left their mark!

Doom II (DOS, 1994.10.10)
I liked playing Doom alright, but my real love was in exploring (with or without idspispopd/idclip) and level design & building. We found one of those CDs of ~1000 new levels~ that were all stolen from BBSes and I examined each and every one that would load. I even made a goddamn table for my findings.

I really fucking loved levels, man, you don't understand.


The Lion King (SNES, 1994.12.08)
I never had a SNES, but I had one friend who did! Unfortunately he only seemed to have two games for it -- the Power Rangers fighting game, and this. I loved the hell out of this and I wanted to play it every time I came over, but one day it "mysteriously vanished"

This was probably the first time I realized how beautiful games could be. The spritework, animations and how the animations meshed with the controls were simply breathtaking.
(Ecco the Dolphin had/has this effect on me too)


Shivers (DOS/Windows, 1995.09.30)
So you're locked in an abandoned museum of weird stuff and it's supposedly haunted. Your friends are assholes and left you there to fulfill your dare (to stay in there all night). Also, there's evil spirits hanging around who want to eat your soul.
But nevermind that, let's go solve this massive variety of puzzles!

I had two or three save slots just parked in front of particular puzzles so I could load it up and play them more.

Also notable for being one of two Sierra games (the other being RAMA) that I made the effort to learn how to rip DOS games' music and then succeeded in doing so! Albeit only partially because some songs were stored in pieces...


RAMA (DOS/Windows, 1996.10)
Welcome to RAMA
You walk into an alien spaceship that is on a crash course with Earth. It rotates to generate false gravity (just like Babylon 5!) and most of the interior geography is a barren desert. Maintenance robots crawl across the landscape.
Follow the robots back to their storage facility, puzzle your way into the buildings dotted here and there, cross the frozen central sea to the large city in the center.
Meet aliens.
Learn base-8 and base-16. Rock out to really good music.


Quake (DOS, 1996.06.22)
I don't have many memories of playing Quake, but for some reason its sound effects are cemented in my brain as the Platonic Ideal of FPS SFX. Especially the grenades.


The Pink Panther: Passport to Peril (PC, 1996)
I'm pretty sure I have this point'n'click adventure to thank for my enduring interest in foreign cultures and languages!


Sherlock: The Game of Logic (PC, 2009)
This ought to be the DOS version, but I can't find its release date anywhere. It also came with way better tileset art. Sorry Kaser, I really can't stand your default sets. :I I ended up going and making my own so I didn't have to look at a crap set.
You don't want to know how many hours I've sunk into this over the last decade-and-a-half-or-so. You get 65,535 puzzles for each grid size (the DOS version only had 6x6 and that's what I prefer playing now too) and I'm currently up to #5,376.


Riven (Windows, 1997.10.29)
oh my god the graphics

oh my god the videos

oh my god there's PEOPLE


Jazz Jackrabbit 2 (Windows, 1998)
I'd loved the shareware of JJ1 and had never been able to get the full version, but dammit I was gonna have the sequel!
And I really can't overstate the effect that this game had on my life. The events it enabled probably literally saved my life.


Unreal (Windows, 1998.05.22)
1. graphics
2. music
3. atmosphere
4. holy shit it's amazing


Pokémon Gold/Silver (GBC, 1999.11.21)
I already loved Pokémon by the time it came out, but this was the definitive generation for me (despite the awful grinding). (As you might expect I also love the hell out of HeartGold/SoulSilver -- those are amazing remakes (too bad about the awful grinding tho).)


Seiken Densetsu 3 (SFC, 1995.09.30)
My introduction to SNES emulation began with a couple fighting games (Ranma ½ Hard Battle, Gundam Wing Endless Duel) and then this gem. Thanks MalachiteShadow! <3
And what more can I say? I love it. It was also the first JRPG I'd played that wasn't Pokémon since Dragon Warrior 1.


Ecco: the Tides of Time (Genesis, 1994.08.25)
Whoops I haven't actually played this one

But I've seen it played in longplay and speedruns. Its soundtrack is also a staple in my rotation of music-to-sleep-to playlists.


MegaMan MUSH (PC, 1998.06.18)
Do MUSHes count?.. MegaManMUSH is a mashup of every MegaMan series that was out (and came out, as time went on) as well as other Capcom things that Shaun, the founder, liked. I loved the hell out of it, but it tweaked my anxiety badly and I had to leave.


Unreal Tournament 2004 (PC, 2004.03.16)
This was one of the major impetuses to getting a new computer! Until 2004 I'd been functioning just fine with a Pentium II running Windows 95, but that couldn't run the NEW UNREAL ENGINE. And I couldn't have that.

It also reminded me that I really ought to get back into level design (although I only made it about 2/3rds of the way through the tutorial -- but it came with a tutorial! omg!)

Oh yeah, I played it some, too, even online!


Silent Hill (PS1, 1999.01.31)
Didn't play this one either, but I count myself as a fan of the first one thanks to Zarla's three part summary.
Comedic summaries aside, I realized that I actually do like well-made horror!... watching OTHER people play, anyway.

(Shoutouts to Trilby's Notes for reminding me some years afterward when I'd forgotten...)


Mother 3 (GBA, 2006.04.20)
Inside the mailbox was absolutely nothing.
Nothing after nothing came bursting out.


Pathologic (PC, 2005.06.09)
I haven't even tried to play this one -- it's notoriously difficult and draining. But I have read screenshot LPs on SomethingAwful, and by god that counts for something because goddamn, this game. Holy shit this game.

Russia: The Video Game. Set in the far rural steppes of Not Soviet Russia. A plague descends upon the town, but the sickness isn't what's visible upon the surface.


Minecraft (PC, 2011.11.18)
I love me some exploration, and let's be honest, if there's anything that Minecraft has in spades...


Deadly Premonition (X360, 2010.02.17)

YouTube Video

Shoutouts to:
• Heretic for the style/music,
• Bejeweled 3 for gorgeous sound design,
• Dust: An Elysian Tail because I've checked in on Dean Dodrill's projects ever since the Jazz Mega Message Board days and I'm really happy that his first complete project in Elysian Tail is popular!

Extra shoutouts to Alpha Protocol, Bastion and Star Control 2, which I neither own nor play nor have seen played, but have a strong suspicion that they will get on this list whenever I do one of those things!

FELIPE NO

Ace Combat 5
Borderlands
Breath of Fire 3
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Civilization V
Command & Conquer
Dark Souls
Deus Ex
Final Fantasy VII
Goldeneye
Lufia 2
Mass Effect 2
Metal Gear Solid
Persona 4
Resident Evil 2
Secret of Mana
Starcraft
System Shock 2
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Valkyrie Profile
Zelda: Ocarina of Time

In no particular order, I wont torment myself.

Still...so surprising to see a so few of you listing anything from the last decade or so. At least give Skyrim and Dark Souls some love, they deserve it, damnit!

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I made a list a while back and started typing up descriptions for each game, but I never got around to finishing it. So I figure I'll just paste what I've got and be done with it.


Sonic CD

Oh come on, I did a whole article about this game on that GFF Gamer Month thing we used to have here so how could this not be on the list? Honestly I should just link the thing here for my summary as to why this is probably the best Sonic game ever made.

You take control of Sonic as you make your way through several different zones on the Little Planet, which can happen in the present but you can also time travel back to the Past version of the zone as well as the Future (Good or Bad, it all depends on if you destroy a couple of things in the past or if you collect all of the Time Stones).

The controls are spot on and the levels are pleasing to the eye. It was definitely something different for a Sonic game considering the only ones we had played up to this point were Sonic 1 and 2 for the Genesis and Game Gear. One really great thing about the game was the music. Now a lot of people prefer the JP/EU music, but give me the US version anyday. I don't consider the JP/EU version bad, it has some pretty sweet tunes such as Quartz Quadrant Good Future, Metallic Madness Past, and Toot Toot Sonic Warrior. However, I grew up on the US music and Sonic Boom still kicks ass to this day.

"So taking into account all of the possible variations of each zone, 4 for the first two and 2 for the third zone, each level has a possible 10 zones and since there are 7 levels, that’s a total of 70 playable zones in the game along with the 7 special stages. That makes it the largest Sonic game in existence."

Also, MECHA SONIC. Yes even though the translation was corrected in the later games as Metal Sonic, we first knew it as Mecha Sonic.

http://www.gamingforce.org/forums/ge...tml#post749664



Super Mario 64

This game not only set the standard for gaming in the 3rd dimension but is still hailed as one of the best Mario games in the series. It's still a fun game to pop in to this day. Different levels, hidden stars, epic fights with a huge freakin Bowser, this game had it all.

But what's more amusing it's how this game is speedrunned (is that even a word?). Gamers have been finding new glitches and tricks to be able to beat the game much more quickly, starting with needing only 16 stars and the backwards far jump glitch on the endless stairs all the way to a freakin 0-star run.



Goldeneye 007

Sticking with the N64, prior to Goldeneye the only FPS I had played was Wolfenstein on DOS. This was the game that started to get me going on FPS's. It followed the story of the movie (with the addition of some side plots) for the Single Player mode. You had a large arsenal of weapons to pickup and use against your enemies from the PP7-Silenced, to the AR-33 Assault Rifle, to the insanely overpowered RC-P90.

Quite a bit of my time on this game was spent trying to unlock the cheats. Some were easy with the Agent level while a lot of them were insanely difficult on 00 Agent, so much so that I needed to use a body armor cheat with Gameshark to accomplish some of them. By far, the most difficult was that damn Invinicibility cheat where you had to beat the Facility in 2:05 on 00 Agent difficulty. One thing that always pissed me off was finding that blasted Dr. Doak since he was in random locations when you started playing.

But where Goldeneye really excelled was the local multiplayer. 4-way split screen against your friends was insanely fun but also frustrating whether your friends were good or the tv you played on was small. It's what LAN parties were before we even had LAN parties.



Unreal Tournament

What Goldeneye did for me on Local Multiplayer FPS games, Unreal Tournament did for me on Online Multiplayer FPS games. This fast paced awesomeness taught me terms such as Shock Whore, Rocket Whore, and Spooge Sucker. Auto taunting your opponents was just icing on the cake when you killed them.

Playing online on your 56k modem was alright at the time...unless your friend was hosting in which case they had an unfair advantage since they didn't have to deal with the lag.

You could also make some mods and maps for the game, pretty fun and funny ones at that. A couple I remember were crotch shot, similar to a head shot where you could kill your opponents with one hit.

Another great mod was the StrangeLove, where you could ride your nuclear missile Redeemer through the map and either eject off of it before it hits the target or kamikaze with it.

There are actually still servers for this game which goes to show that it has quite the following.



Ninja Gaiden Black

To this day, this is still the best Ninja Gaiden out there and for good reason. The story is decent, the cutscenes are short and they don't take too much away from the gameplay. The gameplay at the time was very fluid and you got to flip around and wall jump like a ninja.



Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Musical orgasm for your ears, epic Adventure mode, online play (though a bit laggy at times), and finally the first true game where Mario and Sonic can fight each other.



Metal Gear Solid

"Metal Gear!? It can't be!" You bet your ass it is. Metal Gear Solid was the first PS1 game I ever played. Prior to this I had played the NES classics of both Metal Gear and Snake's Revenge. However, when they talked about some of the past story elements with Gray Fox and Big Boss, I was rather confused because I didn't remember seeing any of that in Snake's Revenge. Later I found a couple of summaries included in the game regarding Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. This is when I first found out that Snake's Revenge wasn't the true sequel.

*need to finish this later*


Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Mario Kart 7

Jak II

Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix

Counter-Strike: Source

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Chrono Trigger

Mortal Kombat 9

Ikaruga

Trauma Team

Metal Gear Rising

Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

How ya doing, buddy?